私たちの家族と友達、こいちわ！
My friends and Family, hello!
It seems like just Tuesday I was emailing home, oh wait I was. It wasn't long ago since the last time I have written but jammed packed none the less! Let's get started!
火曜日 Tuesday
Today was our temple P-Day! I ended my splits with Elder Kojima at 6:45 to which we ran to my apartment to switch back companions and so I could change into a suit in order to catch the 7:10 train. We then took the train which turned into the subway outside of the mission boundaries to go to the temple. It is on the corner of a street, but wow is it magnificent, it is by far one of the smallest temples by land, but the land within is used exceptionally. I love the inside of the temple, it has amazing ties to japan within. I listened to the session in English/Japanese/French, it was really good! After we went to the book store in the basement of the temple. When we went home we bought groceries, cleaned, and wrote a few letters. After we went out with one of our investigators, 乳助 (daisuke), to dinner! The entrance to restaurant was in an alleyway and just some stairs the lead down. It looked kind of sketchy, but we followed. Down the stairs their was a full on koi pond and bridge to get into the restaurant! It was amazing! It was good to talk to him in a relaxed setting, he is a way cool guy. I'll add the picture of what I had to eat. Afterwards we went to a crepe shop on a corner, they were absolutely delicious. The women's work space was so tiny but man were those delicious!
水曜日 Wednesday
After our daily study we went to street the park and play shogi with the old men, we brought the other two Americans in our apartment. The old men loved having all of us there. They were impressed with how quickly we were picking things up. We invited them to church, but they were not interested. After coming home we went to eaikaiwa and talked about New Years and resolutions. The men in my class were hilarious about there resolutions one of my favorites were, "when in Rome do as the Romans do."...I'm not sure if he understands what a resolution is...after class we had a music concert. The two Chinese men in our class brought their traditional Chinese instrument, I have no idea what it is called. It has a small drum on the bottom and two strings like a cello. Super crazy looking but the sound was terrific. It sounded like something from Kung Fu Panda!
木曜日 Thursday
Today was weekly planning so we didn't get to leave the apartment til 4. I made cookies, they were delicious! After we went to shinyurigoka to hand out eaikiwa flyers. We handed out quite a few. I have noticed when you smile and walk up to people they are more apt, it sounds really simple, but it takes a lot of practice. We then went to the church to have a Taco Party! We payed our Zone Leaders to go to Costco to buy taco supplies. This was the first time since being in Japan I had cheese. Wow, that was a good moment. We invited another investigator Shin to the Taco Party. He loved it and brought his girlfriend! It was a good time and we played signs and celebrated Sister Smiths birthday. We had to sprint home because we were almost late. That was a fun 2 miles.
金曜日 Friday
My friends and Family, hello!
It seems like just Tuesday I was emailing home, oh wait I was. It wasn't long ago since the last time I have written but jammed packed none the less! Let's get started!
火曜日 Tuesday
Today was our temple P-Day! I ended my splits with Elder Kojima at 6:45 to which we ran to my apartment to switch back companions and so I could change into a suit in order to catch the 7:10 train. We then took the train which turned into the subway outside of the mission boundaries to go to the temple. It is on the corner of a street, but wow is it magnificent, it is by far one of the smallest temples by land, but the land within is used exceptionally. I love the inside of the temple, it has amazing ties to japan within. I listened to the session in English/Japanese/French, it was really good! After we went to the book store in the basement of the temple. When we went home we bought groceries, cleaned, and wrote a few letters. After we went out with one of our investigators, 乳助 (daisuke), to dinner! The entrance to restaurant was in an alleyway and just some stairs the lead down. It looked kind of sketchy, but we followed. Down the stairs their was a full on koi pond and bridge to get into the restaurant! It was amazing! It was good to talk to him in a relaxed setting, he is a way cool guy. I'll add the picture of what I had to eat. Afterwards we went to a crepe shop on a corner, they were absolutely delicious. The women's work space was so tiny but man were those delicious!
水曜日 Wednesday
After our daily study we went to street the park and play shogi with the old men, we brought the other two Americans in our apartment. The old men loved having all of us there. They were impressed with how quickly we were picking things up. We invited them to church, but they were not interested. After coming home we went to eaikaiwa and talked about New Years and resolutions. The men in my class were hilarious about there resolutions one of my favorites were, "when in Rome do as the Romans do."...I'm not sure if he understands what a resolution is...after class we had a music concert. The two Chinese men in our class brought their traditional Chinese instrument, I have no idea what it is called. It has a small drum on the bottom and two strings like a cello. Super crazy looking but the sound was terrific. It sounded like something from Kung Fu Panda!
木曜日 Thursday
Today was weekly planning so we didn't get to leave the apartment til 4. I made cookies, they were delicious! After we went to shinyurigoka to hand out eaikiwa flyers. We handed out quite a few. I have noticed when you smile and walk up to people they are more apt, it sounds really simple, but it takes a lot of practice. We then went to the church to have a Taco Party! We payed our Zone Leaders to go to Costco to buy taco supplies. This was the first time since being in Japan I had cheese. Wow, that was a good moment. We invited another investigator Shin to the Taco Party. He loved it and brought his girlfriend! It was a good time and we played signs and celebrated Sister Smiths birthday. We had to sprint home because we were almost late. That was a fun 2 miles.
金曜日 Friday
Zone Conference! Today we woke up early and headed to Takao for Zone Conference. Everyone compares the area to Utah because it looks similar the mountains are gorgeous! The meeting was really good it lasted from 8-4. President Wada told us to be Jedis not Clone troopers. He said we need to use the spirit to guide us and working inspired, and not just go throughout the day like a clone trooper. He also gave us great counsel from when he was a professor at BYU long ago, (my mission president ran 600 pizza huts, and was a key person in bringing universal studios to Japan, as well as was the CEO, currently he is my mission president.) He said when he was a Japanese teacher there he observed two students who liked each other but were too afraid to ask each other out. When the guy did end up asking the girl out, he did it in a none forth coming manner, or with out a will you question. The girl said no and the story ends. He made a point of someday, when we ask someone to marry us it is in the form of a will you question. In Japan when you ask someone to marry you it is, "Will you wash my underwater for the rest of your life?" I wish I were kidding. This is really how the traditional Japanese ask. It was a good meeting about being bold. After the mission doctor, dr. Hansen, talked about the importance of self-reliance as missionaries. It was a good talk and I was impressed at how well I has prepared for coming on a mission. That night we were in charge of sports night. We opened and brought snacks at the end we had the spiritual thought. I had to give it, so I spoke about the hut we built for the berries this past year. It worked really well, after I spoke, another elder came up to me and thanked me for not caring about how bad my Japanese and just trying, he said a lot of elders are too scared to even try.
土曜日 Saturday
Today was amazing! We woke up and came to the church to play tennis with a man who lived in New York for 25 years, he was was cool. He taught me how to serve like a pro, his English was so good. After playing tennis we invited him to come to church. We then went home ate lunch then went to the park, we played with the old men again, I almost beat them! I invited them to church too, but they ignored me, oh well it happens. We then went to visit an investigator who was in charge of all the ham radio licenses in japan. When I told him I was from Dayton he was really excited because that is where they hold a big ham radio conference every year! I had no idea! He was pedapeda (fluent) in English so we spoke about English. We talked about baptism and he said if he were ever to be baptized it would have to be in the ocean. We talked to a lot of people and invited a lot too, it was a good day.
日曜日 Sunday
Miracle day! We planned for 5 people to come to church one called Saturday night and told us randomly he wanted to come, we hadn't spoken to him in over 3 weeks! The next one was one of our progressing investigators, Diasuke, he was sick and texted he could come, it was too bad, we will see him later this upcoming week. The next two were the couple, they were busy with work and couldn't come. The next was a complete miracle. Nagamori-San. We meet with his last Sunday but he told us he would come SOME Sunday not THIS Sunday. We said okay but kept praying for him. Then in our meeting with the ward council in the morning the executive secretary poked his head in the door and said Nagamori was here. We looked at each other and sure enough he was there! He stayed the whole time, it was awesome to see him! After church we walked him to the bus stop and set up a meeting later in the day. When we met with him we talked about music for a while, he loves classical music! It was awesome, we compared our favorite composers. He then showed us his photo albums from his trips! He has been all over, I loved the one from France and Italy. Super amazing. We then talked about God and the existence of God. He is so stubborn, if he would just pray. We have faith though. Our prayers were answered this past week, And I know that yours can be too if you get on your knees and ask. When we were walking to the train station we met a guy who was talking pictures. Come to find out he has read the whole Book of Mormon! It was a huge surprise,that man was put in our path for a reason. We are meeting with him later this week!
Love you all, stay safe!
Elder Nathan Dunn
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